About 35 residents and staff from Midland’s Shelterhouse and Open Door’s House of Mercy gathered recently in a ballroom decorated with pink flowers as centerpieces and posters with hearts, reminding each woman to “love yourself.”

That was the purpose of the event — to encourage women, regardless of their circumstances, to value who they are.

Midland’s Shelterhouse is a nonprofit organization that offers safety, shelter, advocacy and counseling to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Open Door’s House of Mercy is also a crisis shelter that houses up to 11 women and children.

The evening began with a gourmet dinner while the women mingled, followed by a discussion with author and motivational speaker Joy McMillan, who shared words of encouragement and experience with them.

McMillan is the author of “Penduka: 21 Ways to Awaken Passion and Purpose in Everyday Life” and “Xes: Why Church Girls Tend to Get It Backwards … and How to Get It Right.” She hails from southern Africa but currently resides in Michigan.

McMillan shares her personal story and struggles with women to encourage them to live life to the fullest. She has been speaking for 15 years.

“The area we seem to struggle with the most when it comes to love, is loving ourselves,” she said. “We truly know that we cannot truly love others until we love ourselves. I want to share three things with you tonight that I hope will help you see yourself differently than you have ever seen yourself before.”

“First, I want to expose some lies that we hear: vulnerable is weak and broken is ugly.

“Being vulnerable takes incredible strength and tremendous courage. And being broken and slowly putting myself back together is as beautiful as a mosaic that it creates, and not many things compare to the beauty of a mosaic,” she said. “Being vulnerable is strength and broken is beautiful.

“The second thing I want to share is that our scars … they tell our story. Your worth does not depend on somebody else’s ability to recognize it. Your scars are who you are, so be proud of that, because you are worth loving. Finally, I want to encourage you to be good to yourself. The reason it is so important to love ourselves is because the way you see yourself internally will be the way you carry yourself externally. We teach people to treat us by the way we treat ourselves.”

After McMillan spoke, residents painted renditions of hearts and had photos taken at Captured Photography.

“The goal of this event is for the women to walk away feeling like they are enough, despite their circumstances,” said Julia Kepler, who organized the event. “I want them to know that despite their circumstances, they are not defined by them. Encourage them to love yourself right where you are, for who you are.”

“I want the women to feel like they are not alone,” added Janine Ouderkirk, executive director of Shelterhouse. “I want them to have that feeling of ‘I can’ whatever that means to them, so that they define their own future and love themselves for who they are. There are no artificial limits put on who they are and what they can accomplish. This event has been a gift to Shelterhouse, it’s been a wonderful gift.”